Bell Labs was a national treasure. It has always fascinated me that there was such a strong civic ethic at Bell that they would plow millions (probably billions in CY dollars) into blue-sky research... a lot of which benefited them, obviously, but even more of which has proven to benefit society at large.

Alcatel-Lucent seem like cockroaches scurrying around the Metropolitan Museum by comparison.

It is always a temptation to an armed and agile nation To call upon a neighbour and to say: --"We invaded you last night--we are quite prepared to fight, Unless you pay us cash to go away."

And that is called asking for Dane-geld, And the people who ask it explainThat you've only to pay 'em the Dane-geld And then you'll get rid of the Dane!

It is always a temptation for a rich and lazy nation, To puff and look important and to say: --"Though we know we should defeat you, we have not the time to meet you. We will therefore pay you cash to go away."

And that is called paying the Dane-geld; But we've proved it again and again,That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld You never get rid of the Dane.

It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation, For fear they should succumb and go astray;So when you are requested to pay up or be molested, You will find it better policy to say: --

"We never pay any-one Dane-geld, No matter how trifling the cost;For the end of that game is oppression and shame, And the nation that plays it is lost!"

1. Why a trial in East Texas, of all places? I'm assuming friendlier filing rules there?2. Alcatel's no shell company. How the heck to they get so deep into patent trolling without the SEC looking into it?

Newegg is an awesome company and when I first started shopping for PC parts no one could beat Neweggs prices on anything, all of my local computer shops were just too expensive. But lately I've been shopping at Amazon for computer stuff, the prices are just too good and with Amazon Prime the shipping is usually free 2 day delivery. Newegg still has the bigger selection though.

<i>"Successful defendants have their litigation managed by people who care," said Cheng. "For me, it's easy. I believe in Newegg, I care about Newegg. Alcatel Lucent, meanwhile, they drag out some random VP-who happens to be a decorated Navy veteran, who happens to be handsome and has a beautiful wife and kids-but the guy didn't know what patents were being asserted. What a joke.

"Shareholders of public companies that engage in patent trolling should ask themselves if they're really well-served by their management teams," Cheng added. "Are they properly monetizing their R&D? Surely there are better ways to make money than to just rely on litigating patents. If I was a shareholder, I would take a hard look as to whether their management was competent."</i>

This, however I've done business with them for many years now. I'll sometimes go with Tiger Direct if they're considerably cheaper, but I think I'll just stick with Newegg now. Anyone who's willing to fight these idiot trolls has earned my money.

Amen brother (or sister). At work I get to work on Cisco's, Juniper's, and ALU 7750 routers. Of the 3 , the ALU box has the crappiest OS I have ever seen. I admit I'm a Cisco guy, and I like the Juniper stuff too, but when I see an order to work on the ALU box I just know it's going to be a fight.

Dr Dreidel:Theaetetus: So the patent is so broad that you can't help but infringe, but it's also so broad that there's tons of prior art predating it and it's invalid.

So you're surprised that they found non-infringement,

as opposed to up and invalidating it totally?

I can see that, especially given your explanation.

No, they invalidated it totally. I'm surprised that, given that, they also found non-infringement. Basically "this method is so common and well known that everyone has been doing it for decades, and NewEgg doesn't do it" is a logically odd outcome.

umad:Theaetetus: As an aside, it actually is a little surprising that the jury found non-infringement. A parameterized HTTP POST request could read on that first claim.

I am SHOCKED that you agree with the trolls. Absolutely flabbergasted.

I am SHOCKED that you're illiterate:

Theaetetus:The article doesn't mention what the '131 patent was invalid over, but fortunately, all of the trial documents are up on PACER. It looks like the piece of prior art used was the X Window System, as described in the Xlib Programming Manual for Version 11, Vol. 1.

Interestingly (particularly with the CLS Bank case that was just decided), patent eligibility under 35 USC 101 didn't seem to be an issue at trial. Which is surprising, 'cause I can't believe those claims would pass muster under the CLS analysis.

Oh, wait, no I'm not. I've come to expect it from you.

But, just in case anyone else is confused, let's break it down in a simple analogy.Say I have a patent that claims "1. A method for living, comprising: breathing." You infringe it, don't you? You're breathing, right?Yes, of course you do. That said, it's absolutely invalid. There's prior art going back hundreds of millions of years for one.

Now, let's apply that to this situation. The claims here recite assigning an identifier to an object, and transmitting that identifier and the object. Like, say, transmitting a POST request with "?text=here%20is%20some%20text." Or "?pagenumber=2". There's a good chance that NewEgg, along with almost every marginally interactive website in the world, does that. Thing is, sending an identifier and an object has been done for decades, which is why, for example, the X Windows system included it. So the patent is so broad that you can't help but infringe, but it's also so broad that there's tons of prior art predating it and it's invalid.

You do understand there is an option while ordering to have them in separate boxes.

Yes. Yes, I do.

BUT WHAT DOES IT TAKE FOR A COMPANY THAT PRIDES ITSELF ON CUSTOMER SERVICE TO PROPERLY PACKAGE ITEMS TOGETHER? I WOULD LIKE ALL OF MY ITEMS IN ONCE BOX.

Sorry I flared.

The worst Amazon.com experience I had was the boxed assortment of bagged food items. Some warehouse employee had spent a few weeks removing a bag from the torn-open box, eating the all the contents, then wadding the empty bag up and shoving it back into the box. He had eaten about 6 or 7 bags and was still working on the 8th when the box was shipped to me. He thoughtfully included the half-eaten bag in the box.

/Then there was the worm in my bottle of wine club cabernet...

Counter ancedotal point.

I have never had an issue with amazon shipping. And I get on average two packages a week for the past three years.

They are a good business (and a sometime corporate White Knight), but they are still a business. I have spent plenty of money there, but have recently found their pricing to be a little on the high side.

The rest of us are more than happy to spend an extra few dollars to support Newegg, knowing they behave like they do in cases like these. In the end, their legal team is helping all of us with lower prices and more innovation. Would you rather kick $5 to Newegg now or spend $10 more on everything forever because everyone bent and spread for a patent troll and the consumer -- hey, that's us -- gets to backfill that loss?

Then again, that's also the argument for comprehensive national healthcare. And you see how well that went over.

Wow! That takes me back a bit but yeah, remember buying that thing at CompUSA and returned it the next day because it couldn't do squat. Got myself a Hayes modem instead and used it until I got broadband.

That LT Win modem was a POS...I replaced it with a US Robotics 56k modem. Loved that thing and it worked like a damn champ.

I usually shop prices on what I need, but I think that will stop. I'm willing to spend a few extra bucks at Newegg. Good on them for not falling into the "just pay them" trap. I can't believe QVC didn't fight. As much as I don't like them, QVC is HUGE.

Wow! That takes me back a bit but yeah, remember buying that thing at CompUSA and returned it the next day because it couldn't do squat. Got myself a Hayes modem instead and used it until I got broadband.

madgonad:TheSelphie: Mike Chewbacca: Who the hell is NewEgg and how can I give them my money as a big thank you for doing this?

A farking fantastic online electronics retailer. Just type in their name +.com and there you go.

They were already awesome before fighting online trolls, this type of stuff just makes me continue to give them business.

Newegg isn't going to give you a reach-around.

They are a good business (and a sometime corporate White Knight), but they are still a business. I have spent plenty of money there, but have recently found their pricing to be a little on the high side. Microcenter and Frys will generally beat them on price.

Microcenter has a bricks and mortar store a few blocks from my house, which I visit pretty frequently.... but their website SUCKS. Newegg does not have a store near me, but their website is AWESOME. I end up splitting my business between the two.

Microcenter's prices are usually the best, but when they don't have something I want in their store Newegg is the online store I get it from and they have some good sales too. Amazon Prime I use for all my non-computer purchases, like stuff for my garden. It's awesome to get a wheelbarrow delivered in 1-2 days and not pay shipping.

madgonad:TheSelphie: Mike Chewbacca: Who the hell is NewEgg and how can I give them my money as a big thank you for doing this?

A farking fantastic online electronics retailer. Just type in their name +.com and there you go.

They were already awesome before fighting online trolls, this type of stuff just makes me continue to give them business.

Newegg isn't going to give you a reach-around.

They are a good business (and a sometime corporate White Knight), but they are still a business. I have spent plenty of money there, but have recently found their pricing to be a little on the high side. Microcenter and Frys will generally beat them on price.

Unfortunately we don't have Microcenter or Fry's locally. I mostly buy videogames from them (they often have great sales on preorders), my husband sometimes buys computer parts from them. We're definitely not hardcore shoppers there but we give them regular business.

Mike Chewbacca:Who the hell is NewEgg and how can I give them my money as a big thank you for doing this?

NewEgg.com.

// it's dot-com!

EddyKilowatt:Bell Labs was a national treasure. It has always fascinated me that there was such a strong civic ethic at Bell that they would plow millions (probably billions in CY dollars) into blue-sky research... a lot of which benefited them, obviously, but even more of which has proven to benefit society at large.

Google does this - they actually allow their employees to dedicate up to 25% of their working hours to blue-sky stuff like that. IIRC, it's how we ended up with Maps, Reader, Mail and more than one other "in-the-pipe" tech.

Patents are supposed to be used for furthering innovation - (again IIRC) just sitting on a patent long enough can invalidate it, or maybe it's only when the holder actively prevents anything from happening with it.

The good news is, we won this case on every point. The bad news is, we're running out of lawsuits. There are fewer trolls for us to fight. I've spent a lot of time over the last seven years figuring out what to do with these guys. There are strategies I think would be really neat and effective that I literally can't execute. I can't make good law because I don't have any appellate cases left.

I worked for a major international for quite a few years, and we had an Alcatel PABX phone system. It regularly crashed and had to be rebooted -- killing everybody's calls in the process, and taking their phones offline. It also had a rather nasty bug in that when a single extension passed a threshold for a certain number of voicemails, all the voicemails to every single phone in both our buildings would vanish.

According to our facilities manager, Alcatel had sent engineers from their corporate HQ in France to look at the thing numerous times, replacing every single hardware component, making custom builds of firmware just for us, and so on -- yet to my knowledge they never figured out either problem in the numerous years I was with the company.